A critical process in the operation of aircraft is the loading and unloading of passengers' luggage from the cargo hold of the aircraft. Tight operating schedules place great demands on the efficient and rapid loading and unloading of luggage into and from the cargo hold. It is common to utilise height adjustable and tiltable endless belt conveyors to convey luggage between a ground level and the entrance to a cargo hold of an aircraft, which may be positioned at a considerable height above the ground. However, once the luggage is delivered into the cargo hold by such conveyors it is normally necessary for the luggage to be manually handled within the luggage compartment, requiring baggage handlers to enter the cargo hold and carry out manual lifting and moving of the luggage delivered from the conveyor, often in confined spaces. This requires the person to lift luggage from the conveyor at the opening of the cargo hold, leading to a risk of injury should the person accidentally fall from the opening.
The conveyor apparatus disclosed in EP 1 248 726 attempts to address this problem by providing a second conveyor extendable from the end of the main conveyor to enter into the cargo hold of the aircraft, the second conveyor including a succession of individual conveyor units, each having a short endless belt conveyor with its own drive system, the conveyor units being coupled together by coupling members permitting sideways pivotal movement of the second conveyor so that it can extend into the cargo hold in an arcuate manner whereby the end of the conveyor can be located at any desired position within the cargo hold, obviating the need to manually lift and carry luggage around within the cargo hold.
However, the use of a succession of individual conveyor units, each requiring its own drive means and power coupling, creates a complex and costly arrangement. Moreover, the failure of just one of the several individual conveyor units will disable the entire conveyor apparatus.